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Abuse Prevention Resources

The links to information posted on this website come from a variety of sources and are intended to serve as resources. No official endorsement by the NYS Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs or State Oversight Agency should be inferred.

Resources that may be particularly beneficial for specific service systems have been labeled as follows, though many resources are adaptable to different systems:

[BH] Behavioral health

[DD/ID] Developmental disabilities and intellectual disabilities

[PD] Physical disabilities

[SD] Sensory disabilities, including Blind and Deaf

[SA] Substance abuse

[Y] Youth

WHO

SYSTEM

Resources for People Who Receive Services and Families

How-To Guides/Manuals

A Peer to Peer Guide About Domestic and Sexual Violence

[DD/ID]

This manual was developed by Green Mountain Self-Advocates to explain abuse to people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Connecting on Disability and Abuse

[BH][DD/ID][PD]

The Abuse of People with Disabilities booklet which was developed for Crime Prevention Ottawa by Connecting on Disability and Abuse (CODA) explains abuse and violence and also offers tips on what you can do if you are being abused.

Family Survival Handbook Reaching Mental Health Recovery Together: Tools for and by Families

[BH]

The Family Survival Handbook is a collection of practical, useful information contributed by over 65 family caregivers from New York City and New York State who have learned from experience how to navigate the public mental health system.

How To Prevent, Detect and Report Financial Exploitation in Assisted Living Facilities

[PD]

Produced by the National Consumer Voice for Long Term Care, this one-page tool explains financial abuse.

Red Flags of Abuse

[BH][DD/ID][PD]

Produced by the National Center on Elder Abuse, this fact sheet explains the signs of abuse for seniors and adults with disabilities.

Say NO to Abuse

[DD/ID]

Say NO to Abuse is an easy-read guide for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities using Symbols for Life.

Brochures/Handouts

Deaf Power and Control Wheel

[SD]

The Deaf Power and Control Wheel was created by DeafHope. It is adapted by the Domestic Violence Abuse Intervention Project of Duluth, Minnesota.

Training

A Training for Families Receiving Services

ESCAPE-NOW:

[DD/ID]

Effective Strategy-Based Curriculum for Abuse Prevention and Empowerment for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities-NOW contains lessons and materials for provider agency staff to teach adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to make effective, self-protective decisions in a wide range of sexual, physical, and verbal abuse situations. The curriculum, developed by Ishita Khemka of St. John's University and Linda Hickson of Teachers College, Columbia University andfunded in part by a grant from the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, is free of charge and can be found at Columbia University’s Wiki Scholars web address at www.escapenow.wikischolars.columbia.edu. To receive regular updates pertaining to ESCAPE-NOW, it is recommended that users complete and submit the registration form when accessing the Wiki site.

Web Info

Disability and Abuse Project

[BH][DD/ID][PD][SA][SD][Y]

The Disability and Abuse Project works with nonprofit organizations, media, government agencies, and individual advocates to identify ways to reduce the risk of abuse, to promote healing for victims and to seek justice for those who have been victimized.

Rights of Outpatients in all outpatient programs licensed or run by the NYS Office of Mental Health

The Joyful Heart Foundation

[Y]

The Joyful Heart Foundation was established with the intention of helping survivors heal and reclaim their lives. Its mission is to heal, educate and empower survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, and to shed light into the darkness that surrounds these issues through healing, education and advocacy programs.

The NYS Office of Mental Health Office of Consumer Affairs

[BH]

OMH has many resources for service recipients of mental health services. Staff provide advocacy, training, technical assistance and peer support.

Resources for Provider Agencies and Staff

How-To Guides/Manuals

Abuse Prevention Sample Policy: A Resource for Provider Agencies Serving People with Special Needs

[Y]

This sample policy was created by the NYS Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs as a resource for provider agencies. It is not all-encompassing and does not constitute legal advice. It is intended to be used as a guide that may be modified as needed to apply to particular types of programs and specific age groups of vulnerable people.

Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline

[Y]

This resource, developed by the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) draws from emerging research and best practices to describe three key principles and related action steps that can help guide state and local efforts to improve school climate and school discipline. USDOE provides additional resources on school climate and discipline.

Shift Happens

[DD/ID][Y]

The Arc of Delaware County (Delarc) developed Shift Happens, a guide for creating a pro-active, person-centered method of managing behavior and reaching individualized goals. The program is available for both families and agencies and emphasizes strong relationships with direct support staff.

Brochures/Handouts

The Risk and Prevention of Maltreatment of Children With Disabilities

[Y]

The Child Welfare Information Gateway, developed this bulletin for child welfare professionals. It offers tips to identify and assess abuse and neglect in children with disabilities, respond collaboratively, and locate training resources.

Training

This product developed by H&W Independent Solutions adapted training curriculum based on the seven key components for responding to abuse or neglect of persons with disabilities identified by the Center on Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

College of Direct Support

[BH][DD/ID][PD]

The College of Direct Support website offers several trainings for direct support professionals, including a training that focuses on abuse prevention. The course will also introduce you to advocacy, ombudsman services, and other agencies that deal with abuse and neglect situations.

PHI’s Adult Abuse & Neglect Prevention (AANP) Training

[PD]

PHI partnered with Michigan’s DDS to develop twelve one-hour modules for Michigan’s long term care services system called Adult Abuse & Neglect Prevention Training. Presentations and course materials are available online.

Positive Alternatives to Restraint and Seclusion (PARS) Initiative

[BH]

As part of the Positive Alternatives to Restraint and Seclusion (PARS) initiative, the complete list of Six Core Strategies and Trauma Informed Care webinars are available on the OMH Website.

PROMOTE

[DD/ID]

PROMOTE (Positive Relationships Offer More Opportunities to Everyone), a new training program developed by the NYS Office for People With Developmental Disabilities focuses on decreasing the use of restrictive interventions. PROMOTE is a hands-on and interactive training that gives direct support professionals, clinical staff, and supervisors tools to establish positive relationships with individuals receiving services and builds skills staff can use to help individuals cope with stressors.

S.A.F.E.: A Personal Safety Training Guide for Adults with Disabilities and Care Providers

The Circles Curriculum

The Circles Video Modeling curriculum teaches relationship boundaries and relationship-specific behaviors, using a simple multi-layer circle diagram to demonstrate the different relationship levels students with learning disabilities, mild to severe mental disabilities, emotional handicaps, autism, sensory impairments and affective disorders will encounter in daily life.

Therapeutic Crisis Intervention

[Y]

Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) is an intensive five-day course which provides residential and congregate care agencies with in-house training in the TCI curriculum to prevent and de-escalate potential crisis situations, manage crisis in a therapeutic manner and process with children and young people to help improve their coping strategies.

YAI Resource Center

[DD/ID]

The YAI Resource Center is an membership-based training tool addressing a full range of ages, abilities and types of programs in the field consisting of staff trainings, creative activities and lesson plans for working with people with ID/DD, and access to experts discussing critical issues.

Web Info

A report, Coordinated Standards for Children’s System of Care, issued by the Committee on Restraint and Crisis Intervention Techniques, which was established by the NYS Council on Children and Families provides coordinated standards for the most effective, least restrictive and safest techniques for the modification of behavior. This is a resource for providers of OMH, OPWDD, OCFS or SED services.

Comfort Rooms

[BH]

A comfort room is a designated space that is designed in a way that is calming to the senses and where the user can experience visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile stimuli. It is furnished with items that are physically comfortable and pleasing to the senses in order to provide a sanctuary from stress. It is also used as a tool to teach individuals calming techniques in order to decrease agitation and aggressive behavior. The goal in using the comfort room is to develop practical skills that can be used in inpatient settings and after being discharged from care.

Cultural Competence

Disability and Abuse Project

[BH][DD/ID][PD][SA][SD][Y]

The Disability and Abuse Project works with nonprofit organizations, media, government agencies, and individual advocates to identify ways to reduce the risk of abuse, to promote healing for victims and to seek justice for those who have been victimized.

Just Culture

[BH]

Just Culture is an approach that focuses on risk, system design and the management of behavioral choices.

Presentation overview of Just Culture (on Department of Health’s website)

Restraint and Seclusion: Resource Document

[Y]

This report entitled Restraint and Seclusion: Resource Document issued by the U.S. Department of Education identifies 15 principles that states, local school districts, parents and other stakeholders should consider as a framework for policies and procedures related to restraint and seclusion.